The plenary session at the Senate on Tuesday faced a delay of approximately 30 minutes due to a power outage caused by a faulty generator powering the Senate wing of the National Assembly.
The outage resulted in a partial blackout in the Red Chamber, with lawmakers awaiting the restoration of power supply. President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, commenced the session after power was restored a few minutes later.
Akpabio apologized for the outage and the discomfort caused by the heat in the Chamber. He disclosed that approximately nine offices were still experiencing power outage as efforts were underway to rectify the situation.
Investigations revealed that air-conditioners in the offices of about 20 senators were currently not functioning.
Addressing the issue, Akpabio stated, “They are still working on the light. It went off in the morning. It is even affecting some of the offices on the fourth floor; we have about nine offices that they have not been able to rectify, but they are working on it.”
He added, “They have assured us that before 1 o’clock the light will be okay. However, I have noticed even the press (journalists) some of them are fanning themselves at least they feel the heat also.”
The Chairman of the Committee on Senate Services, Senator Sunday Karimi, explained to journalists after the plenary that the situation was caused by faulty generators. He clarified that it was an uncommon incident, noting that since the 10th Assembly, such an experience had not occurred.
Karimi elaborated, “Often when we’re sitting, we use the generator. Unfortunately, today, our generator developed a fault. It has nothing to do with the fuel issue. So, they have to switch to the second generator used by the House of Representatives. You will also observe that within 10 to 15 minutes of switching, our generator was restored.”
In conclusion, despite the temporary setback, the Senate resumed its activities after the power outage was addressed, ensuring that legislative proceedings continued smoothly.